Five Years Together, Two Years Of Travel

Last weekend we celebrated the fifth anniversary of our first date. We spent it devouring delicious vegan pizza at Sfizy Veg again, talking over the amazing things we’ve done over the past few years together.

As we enjoyed slice after slice of our pizza of choice, we talked over where we were five years ago both figuratively and mentally in comparison to where we are in our lives in 2014. Obviously so much of what has changed has come from our travelling the world as a couple for the past two years, further tightening our relationship through the ups and the downs, but strengthened and more determined to make changes in our lives that make us happy.

Five Years Ago

Before we became the globehopping couple we are today, we were two highly independent people living very different lives in 2009. Franca was an Italian expat living in my home town in the United Kingdom as a combination au pair, babysitter, part-time waitress and team member at an alternative music venue in the nearest city of Coventry. I was working in a job that was forever verging on collapse, trying to climb a ladder that didn’t exist, simply treading water and spending the money in my pocket just as soon as it arrived.

Those two people we’re heading in different directions. Franca never had a career plan or desires for herself outside of doing a little bit of travel wherever she could, whenever she could afford it. She lived each day as it came, living them as if they were her last, without much of a care for other people’s opinions that she should be either buying a house, climbing the career ladder, or getting married and having a baby. The ‘Big Three‘ that all good Italians should be aiming for.

Meeting someone like that had huge implications on how I began to look at life over those next twelve months, especially after our first holiday together, visiting Berlin for the first time and getting bitten by the travel bug ever so softly.

Four Years Ago

Entering our second year together and having moved into our first home only a few months prior to our first anniversary, we went through all of the stages of moving in with your partner, learning all those little secrets about each other that never see the light of day unless you spend every hour in each other company. So much of those first months living together make up some of my fondest memories of our relationship, with time spent watching Twin Peaks on camping chairs our friends lent us in our living room with a cardboard box as a table being amongst those that make us both laugh the most when we look back on them now.

Since the age of eighteen Franca had spent her the following years moving across Italy for university, back again to Puglia for work, then to the UK to learn English and see what life throws her way. Staying in one place was very clearly never going to be on the cards for her, and the more I learned about her, the memories of amazing adventures she’d seen, plus the list of places she’d yet to discover for herself; the idea of her not seeing them began to be one of the problems I found myself with heading into our third year together.

First day in our first home

Three Years Ago

Heading into 2011 and I began to suffer from depression, and if it wasn’t for Franca at my side I don’t know how I would have handled it. I was unhappy and needed an escape, Franca gave me that and all of her support throughout. She surprised me with the trip to Venice that would become the first step towards the round the world adventure we’d begin in 2012 and our third year together.

If it wasn’t for Franca waking up the adventurer in me, who knows that may have become of not just myself, but our relationship. She made me see and realise that I’d barely scratched the surface of the potential exploration we could do together, that there’s a whole world to be uncovered and lived.

This was the moment that I realised that one person can make a huge difference, through support and encouragement, I began to see that there was so much of life to be grasped and made the most of, that we both together could travel the world, that there was nothing standing in our way but ourselves. Only we could make the choice to give up our jobs, sell all of our possessions, and start an around the world adventure without an end date in sight.

Whilst exploriong the Colosseum in Rome

Two Years Ago

October 18th 2012 and we celebrate our anniversary in our own way – we do nothing. Actually, we spend it in the company of our Couchsurfing host in Japan, but choose not to mention it as we don’t want to make any fuss about it. There’s no need to do anything fancy, it’s a day like most others after all, so we just shared some gyoza instead.

It had been three months since we finally boarded our plane from the UK to only our second Couchsurfing experience in Pisa, we’re still getting used to the idea that we’re now a full-time backpacking couple with little idea where we’re going to be in a months time, or even if we’ll still be able to afford this lifestyle in a year, but we keep plodding along.

One Year Ago

People always say that if you can travel with someone and not kill each other, then you’re set for life. I can attest to that. To be able to take our relationship on the road, to manage with the ups, downs and regular tests on your emotions that it brings; there’s no doubting that with the wrong person beside you that it can all end in tears. To reach a year travelling as a couple was something we were both proud to have completed together, but it wasn’t always easy by any stretch of the imagination.

The majority of things we learned about each other during that year we may never have discovered whilst living together. The previous twelve months taught us about our resolve, to be there for each other, to be patient (where emotion will allow) and to try to encourage the best from one another. To be able to adapt to the road and the changes that come along the way with someone to support you are unquestionably the best part of travelling as a pair, whether it’s as a friend or partner. Without each other we may not have been so easy to adjust to our surroundings, loosening up our expectations and requirements to be happy.

Our fourth anniversary was another quiet affair of just us and a few our our friends here in Berlin, again failing to mention that it was a ‘special day‘ right until the last minute and the wine had almost been finished.

The Past Twelve Months

The past twelve months may not have seen us venture around such exotic countries as those we visited in South East Asia, but our time spent in Europe has brought opportunities for further self-improvement and developments that again, we wouldn’t have ever gone through if one hadn’t encouraged the other to follow their dreams two years beforehand.

We started to really appreciate life more, started to travel even slower than we had before, trying to live more like a local (excuse the cliché) by doing prolonged periods of house and petsitting in Germany, France, Spain and briefly in the UK in 2014. These longer stops enabled us to talk and learn more about the things about us we’d love to embrace more and adjust, with our vegan diet being chiefly amongst them.

The past year has also seen our attitude to our futures change a little too. We’re still as keen as ever to travel and see the world, but we’re also quite aware of the fact that having somewhere small and personal to call home from time-to-time is becoming something we’re more keen to do, hence our trialling Berlin right now as a possible home base between our future adventures.

Though we both love discovering new countries, meeting new people and putting ourselves in social situations that bring out the best in us, we’re both aware that having a few little things like having our own kitchen full of worldly spices is something we’d love to have.

The Next Twelve

Neither of us wants to stop travelling, so it’s quite plain to us that the next twelve months is going to be spent travelling in one way or another, and having asked your opinion about the future of the blog, we’ve found that your support for us to go more professional with our humble little travel blog has completely blown us away.

We’re still looking at our options, but already we’re starting to come to a much clearer idea of how to keep travelling and sharing our stories, without covering this site in adverts for companies we neither use or believe in, or sponsored content that not only bores you to death, but makes the both of us want to pull out our hair. Hopefully we’ll be able develop a business model based on honesty, openness and good travel writing.

The One Lesson

If there’s only one thing that we’ve both learned from the past two years of travel and our five years spent together, is that with the right support there’s nothing you can’t do, and no one you can’t be. No matter if it’s a friend, or a loved one, or someone writing a post such as this one, there’s always someone to support you.

Five years later and with two of them spent travelling, I count myself lucky that my best friend still supports me every day.

Congratulations! A lovely post about a wonderful relationships. They say ‘those who play together stay together”. All the best in the future.lyn barden recently posted…Ettal Abbey and Pilgrimage Church

Wow, I absolutely love your story as it sounds so similar to ours! Travelling with your partner is one of the most challenging things you can do (but also one of the most rewarding), and if you manage to last the distance while you’re on the road then there’s no much that you cannot get through together as a couple. Thanks for sharing 🙂Andrea Anastasiou recently posted…A Visit To Chokhi Dhani in Jaipur (And Why We Won’t Be Returning)

You two are meant for each other, helping each other realise their dreams or even escape bad bad things (i.e., depression). Even though it was just another regular day, I wish you to never stop having fun and enjoying your lives. Hope to meet you somewhere soon!

Happy anniversary guys! It was so fun to read about how you met, and interesting to see how you’ve changed and grown since that first date. It sounds like you make a great team!

I’m not sure where I’ll be five years from now, though I hope I’m living in yet another foreign country, getting to know its culture. It doesn’t really matter where, as long as I have my husband by my side. Awwww 🙂Heather recently posted…My Favorite Prague Attractions

What a lovely post and huge congrats! 5 years is a good amount of time especially with nearly half of that on the road. You guys look so happy and it’s always wonderful to hear success stories of couples traveling together. I hope we can meet you guys one day! If you come to Costa Rica next year, let us know (There are a LOT of Italians there so you will feel right at home haha).Samantha recently posted…Video: Buena Vista Mega Combo Tour in Guanacaste, Costa Rica

What a beautiful ‘trip down memory lane’ for you and what an amazing 5 years it has been for the both of you. It is so good to hear that you both complement each other. Plus, I am really happy that Franca ignited your travel bug and you were willing to help her realize her dreams of travel – it is just beautiful. On a lighter, more humorous side though – the pictures have given me a glance of how your hair has changed throughout the five years!! 😉Constance – Foreign Sanctuary recently posted…Halloween in Taiwan: Then Vs. Now

Ha ha. I thought that putting that in there was going to create a comment or two about how wild it was, and where it’s disappeared to over the past few years. It bothered me only very very slightly when I first started to lose it, but now I don’t care either way.

I count myself incredibly lucky to have met Franca, more so than I can ever express in words either online or in talking to her.

Beautifully written post Dale. I love reading about how other couples that travel the world together. It’s so true that if you can travel long term with your significant other then it’s safe to say you can pretty much conquer anything together. Your story resonates with me because my boyfriend and I took a similar path as you and Franca. Last year, we made the decision to sell all of our worldly possessions, we bought two one-way tickets to Bangkok, and we managed to live out of our backpacks for a year. Not only did we manage to not kill each other, but we had a blast and created what feels like a lifetime’s worth of memories. I agree that there are so many ups and downs when traveling with your partner, but in the end the experience only made us stronger as a couple. It sounds like you two have a beautiful relationship. And I wish you guys the best for year number six!Justine recently posted…The Trash Crisis in Indonesia

Love that you’ve been there too, not only travelling the world, but also doing with with the person who means the most in the world to you. I can’t imagine doing something as special as travelling either short or long-term with anyone else but my best friend. I’m just glad I found that person, but I’m happiest in the knowledge that we brought out the best in each other, and pushed the other to do what made us happy.

Thanks so much for the kind words, maybe after during year six we’ll have a chance to meet in person? 🙂

Congratulations!! A very sweet and humble post! We wish you the best for many years to come!

Also, totally recognise the camping chairs, until a month ago we had one camping chair and rocking chair in our living room! Good times that should always be remembered 🙂Bell | Wanderlust Marriage recently posted…Apple Picking in New England, Delicious and Relaxing

Yep, really, except we’re coming up on 10 years of being married 🙂 my colleague joked that we were like a couple of old retirees. I think it is memories like these that will make me feel grateful for the other stuff.

Aw this is such a lovely and sentimental (but not mushy) post. You guys make an awesome travel couple and from the photos, you guys look happier and happier every year 🙂 Luke and I super can’t wait to meet you some time in the future!Charlie recently posted…Is Volcano Boarding in Nicaragua Really Awesome?

Cris and I have been together for four years now, but technically we haven’t been “traveling” in the traditional sense in that all we’ve been seeing/doing has been here in Mexico on her own turf. Places she doesn’t know and hasn’t ever been, but still are “new” to her, while for me they are completely foreign, even after four+ years in-country.

I can attest to the “if you can travel together you can live together” because there are so many stress-related things that can pop up on the road that really test the mettle of the relationship.

I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am *not* a good solo traveler; in fact, I don’t really enjoy doing anything by myself because I would rather be sharing that experience with someone, especially when that someone is my life partner/wife.

Thanks Tim for the kind words and insight into how Cris and yourself view your relationship in correlation to your travels.

It makes me wonder how I’d handle travel alone as at time I question if there might be some part of me that wouldn’t like to venture off for a month of travelling alone to do the kinds of things that don’t tickle Franca’s fancy, but then I recall when we were apart for only a couple of weeks earlier in the year and how much it really effected me. Maybe now we’ve been together on the road this long, we’ll struggle to be apart? 🙂

That post has warmed the cockles of my heart. You have done so much together in the five years. So I raise a glass of something to the next twelve months while deciding what to do next in my life. Thanks for being a inspiration.Steve recently posted…Knin

Congrats, you two! It was intriguing to read your reflections on these past 5 years as a couple, especially how traveling has reinforced your relationship. Taking on the world together–what better challenge/teamwork is there?! Here’s to many more years of shared travel and adventure.Cassandra recently posted…Last-Minute Quest: Usaquén Market

Such a lovely tribute to the last five years! You guys are a wonderful couple and it was so nice to take a peek into how your relationship has evolved over the last half a decade. I completely agree that there is nothing like traveling together for a long stretch to really see what your relationship is made of; I guess that makes sense, since what is a relationship but a journey we take with another person? 🙂

I’m so glad you celebrated in a way that is right for you and that it was a happy day. You’ve had more adventures in the last 5 years than many couples will have in a lifetime… no matter where you go next, you know you have two fans here in Canada rooting for you!Steph (@ 20 Years Hence) recently posted…Chewing the Fat with the Cultural Xplorer

What an incredible and defining 5 years you have had together! It is great to be able to read about it in your words. Gives a great insight to who you guys are as people. Thanks for sharing it all, and can’t wait to see where you guys end up in the next 12 months (and beyond).

Five years time where do we want to be? Well we don’t even know where we will be in five days time! Haha. Hopefully we would have succeeded in reaching South Africa without flying, and maybe have jumped on a boat to South America. Only time will tell.Jazza – NOMADasaurus recently posted…Vespa Tour Through The Hoi An Countryside

You’ve just made me realise that it was a year ago that we asked everyone reading us if they’d like to hear more about who we are as people instead of just your typical travel blog stuff, not that we weren’t writing about our experiences before hand, we just didn’t go as much into who were were personally. Since that change, we’ve made so many friends through the site that it simply amazes us.

I love how you both travel, without a solid plan, just a direction. That’s how we try to be too, hence why we both love reading your site. And as I told you in person, I envy your travels overland right now.

Congratulations on your amazing journey guys!! So happy for both of you.. It’s lovely to see how good you guys are doing and how far you’ve come. Truly very happy for you and wish you all the best always 🙂Nita recently posted…What Travel & Blogging Taught Me

Thank you so much, Nita. We’re obviously incredibly happy, we just hope everyone takes note that there is support out there to follow your dreams, whether it’s from a partner or just an friendly internet person with the same interesting as you 😀

Happy 5-year anniversary! Thanks for sharing your story! That had to be such a huge and scary moment to decide to sell everything and travel together, but a beautiful story of how you supported Franca’s dreams even if it felt uncomfortable at first. And while I haven’t had the experience of buying a one-way ticket and venturing out into the world like you both did, I do know what it’s like to move to a foreign country and can attest that that experience definitely strengthens a relationship! My husband and I have learned to lean on each other in ways we never would have had to necessarily back in the US with a strong family and friend support system in place. Cheers to you both and many more years of happiness and adventures 🙂Sara @ Simply Sara Travel recently posted…Up Close and Personal in Iceland

Thanks so much Sara, and having read your stories also I know that you feel very much the same about having that special someone to lean on when things not only get difficult, but fun and adventurous too 😀